COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Texas men’s and women’s squads took the lead after day two at the 2009 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships. Five swimming meet records were broken, while history was also made in the men’s 50-yard freestyle event.

On the women’s side, a tandem of Texas freshman won their first individual Big 12 titles, while setting meet records along the way. In the 500-yard freestyle, Leah Gingrich clocked a 4:40.18 while teammate Kathleen Hersey swam a 1:55.29 in the 200-yard individual medley, both resulting in NCAA qualifying times. After setting a new conference record in the prelims earlier in the day (21.87), UT senior Hee-Jin Chang took her first Big 12 title in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.88.

The Longhorn men also swept the individual events as Jackson Wilcox (4:13.50) stalled teammate Michael Klueh’s attempt to sweep the 500-yard freestyle for the fourth straight year. UT’s Ricky Berens won his fifth individual championship and second straight in the 200-yard individual medley (1:43.84). Jimmy Feigen and David Walters set history in the 50-yard freestyle, as the duo touched the wall with a time of 19.27 to become the first Big 12 co-gold medalists in the history of the event.

On the one-meter springboard, senior Kathryn Kelly won her second-career championship after scoring 329.30 points. UT teammate Jessica Livingston followed with 315.30, while Missouri’s Kendra Melnychuck took the bronze after totaling a 300.60.

In the final event of the day, both Longhorn relays walked away with the 400-yard medley titles and marked two meet more records. The team of Hill Taylor, Agustin Magruder, Berens and Feigen put in a NCAA qualifying time of 3:06.40, while the women’s Hersey, Alexi Spann, Chang and Karlee Bispo clocked a 3:33.92.

The championships resume Friday with prelims at 10 a.m. The men’s three-meter diving finals begin at 5 p.m., and swimming finals kick off at 6 p.m.